Latin for Beginners

Latin begins with two absences: its alphabet has no W and no J. And the V in vinum sounds not like “vine” but like “wine.”

Benjamin L. D’Ooge’s early twentieth-century guide starts at the beginning: how to hear Latin’s vowels, divide its syllables, and place an accent by the length of a sound. The rules soon lead to a lively test: pronounce a Latin verse urging a sluggard to visit the ant and learn from her ways. Then comes Longfellow’s “Excelsior,” recast in Latin, with its youth pressing onward through snow, ice, and warning voices. Can a few careful sounds bring this ancient language—and its poetry—within a beginner’s reach?

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